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For me not really and maybe not for the majority of the older generation i mean i remember looking at the table on World of sport(my Dad used to do the ITV7 back then)and West Ham were always in the bottom 5 they showed so is today really any different?....The Premier League is the be all and end all for the younger fans and many seem overly troubled by the thought of us being Relegated.
So is it really that big of a deal if we did go down? for Sullivan and co it would be as no tourists will be buying tickets for a Championship game so then they would be stuck with West Ham fans only!......But honestly would you miss some of the mercenary players that have no love for the shirt they are just interested in the ££££££££££'s.
Yes, It bothers me
More than any of the four previous relegation teams I've supported that have lost the battle. Mainly because I always felt that we would bounce straight up again and, Allardyces promotion win apart, the core of the team remained and in three of those relegation battles the adage of being too good to go down was pretty much on the ball, those teams SHOULDN'T have gone down. Big Sam bucked the trend by having an almighty clearout but I also had absolute confidence he would return us to the top flight.
This team, this season, I honestly feel that if we go down we will sink like a stone, ending up in League One not an unrealistic possibility. This club is rudderless, there is no plan, there is no heart,I see no players either willing to stay and see us out in a battle to return and quite honestly, I don't see a team of youngsters good enough either. I also fear the club has lost the core of fans, people like me for example, who would give the support that we, as a club, had in the past, come what ever crap was put out in the lower divisions in the battle to return to the top flight, we still turned up in all weathers and gave our backing.
But you know what is worse? I actually don't see much of a future in staying up either. The soul of this club has totally gone now.
Im with you both on this,if
Im with you both on this,if we go down we might see some changes though.On the other hand i think we will be out of the Prem for a long while,then as Deluded says there isnt any hope for us in the Prem,as in the state we are in we will constantly be fighting to keep out the bottom three,not having any glory in the top three,and i agree with Mac,get rid of these mercenaries and get players that will want to fight and play as a team,we would see better football then for sure.
Like you Bikey I remember
Like you Bikey I remember those days. World of Sport racing in the afternoon, through to Wrestling at 4pm. Then the results and tables. It was usually grim back then as you say. I got to the age of 13 then used to go to Upton Park on a Saturday with my mate his brother and his Dad. 1976 would be the year I started going to Home games, to be honest, now in modern times my outlook has changed vastly.
As far as the club goes, as Deluded has said, it's lost it's soul completely. I hate to harp on but when we left The Boleyn I knew it was the end and the start of the slippery slope.
The family aspect to the club has now gone. The owners have totally killed our history and created a money driven cash cow. Yes I know it's the nature of the business of the modern game. But with the move to the BOM it has amplified the financial ethos that drives the club.
In the case of the short sharp shock syndrome. Yes I think going down to the Championship would give the club a reset. The owners could stick or twist? The squad would look different, but in a perverse sort of way. The project would excite me as a fan.
Seeing us toil away on a weekend and a cold Tuesday night in Preston would be character building. I'm of the older generation like you Bikey and Deluded. I don't think we'd disappear into a black hole, but a bit of austerity wouldn't hurt. But if it's a chance of new ownership then I'll take it.
As the Sterophonics once said. You gotta go there to come back...